What a wonderful resource is LinkedIn. Do a simple search, and you are presented with multiple employment opportunities for positions that fit you to a T.
"Oh good!" you say. "This was posted only 18 hours ago. I love getting my iron in the fire when it's hot."
And so you click Apply to start the process and see THIS...
And you think, "No longer exists??? How is that even POSSible?!!?" and little wisps of smoke escape from your ears and nostrils.
Imagine a stormy day at sea, your ship yielding to a relentless wind, pummeled by crashing waves, subject to the awesome force of nature. A force that is both fierce and majestic. A power that is nothing short of furious. Such is God's intense, consuming love for His children. It's a love that knows no limits and no boundaries. A love that will go to any lengths, and take any risks, to pursue us.
Renowned author and ragamuffin Brennan Manning presents a love story for the brokenhearted. For those who are burdened by heavy religion. For those who feel they can never measure up. It is a provocative and poignant look at the radical, no-holds-barred love of our Heavenly Father.
I've lost track of how many of Manning's books I've read, but I agree with Mark Batterson's opening sentence of the Foreword: "If Brennan Manning writes it, I'm going to read it." I also agree with something else Batterson wrote: "To say that Brennan Manning has blazed new trails in this book would not be true. He has not. But to say that Brennan Manning is attempting once more to plow up the hardened ground of our hearts, now that would be a true statement."
I highlighted a smattering of quotes throughout the book (not the least of which is "God loves me as much as He loves Jesus. Wow!") but the penultimate chapter ("Giving") is worth the price of the whole thing. Read the November 18 edition of Truth Is... if you want a sample.
First Line: I'm Brennan. I'm an alcoholic.
Page 56, Line 5: And let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet and your face is beautiful.
Last Line: Or, with radical amazement, I can stay on deck and boldly stand in surrendered faith to the truth of my belovedness, caught up in the reckless raging fury that they call the love of God. And learn to pray.
If you've ever had any experience with alcoholism or an alcoholic...
If you're a Jesus Music kind of person...
If you like documentaries...
Allow me to call Russ Taff: I Still Believe to your attention for your edification and education.
"This gripping documentary chronicles the multi- GRAMMY® and Dove Award-winning star’s musical journey and behind-the-scenes battle with alcoholism. Re-live Taff’s iconic career, and the childhood trauma he suffered at the hands of an alcoholic father and abusive mother."
Russ Taff has a set of pipes on him that any singer would covet, and they took him to the heights of fame as a gospel singer...all while suffering from a toxic self-image and a crippling battle with alcohol dependency.
Russ and his wife, Tori, are transparent as they talk through their life together in and out of the spotlight. It's fascinating and heartbreaking and, I think, an encouragement for everyone to take off the masks and get real with whatever baggage they've carried into whatever relationship they have, human or spiritual.
And the really good news is that you can watch this FOR FREE on YouTube. Here's the link, along with my hardy recommendation.
I talked about going to see the latest (and Daniel Craig's final) James Bond movie in terms of looking forward to seeing things blow up...and I was not disappointed. James Bond himself blew up five times throughout the course of the movie, let alone the cars and crypts and buildings.
Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody's Freddie Mercury) plays the film's villain, who wants to better the world by selling a new nanobot weapon that targets specific DNA blah, blah, blah. He apparently is a proponent of the less-is-more theory of acting as he practically whispers every line with a deadpan, I-might-be-high-on-something expression that is less menacing than it is just kind of creepy in an I've-been-peeking-through-your-window kind of way.
But none of that is important compared to the gritty fighting and eye-popping chase scenes (including some phenomenal motorcycle stunts that make Steve McQueen's work in The Great Escape look like a blooper reel).
Two biggest laughs:
1) After one particularly confusing "coming attraction" trailer, ActorBoy said, "What was that even about? I hope YOU could understand it!" To which, his father-in-law, WrecklessBassman, replied, "I understand that I won't be seeing that movie."
2) There's a scene in the movie where Bond has to turn on the power in an old missle silo/submarine station and Q, the techno-wizard in his earpiece, starts to explain how he'll have to do things in a precise order in order to blah, blah, blah and Bond just starts flipping all the switches and pulling levers until Q says, "Now, first..." and Bond already has things up and running and says, "Got it."
Bottom line: If you like Craig's Bourne-like take on Bond, you won't be disappointed. Come for the action, stay for the laughs.
And so, for your education, entertainment, and to give you something to do while your latest TikTok upload is processing, here's a relatively concise rundown of my current creative outlets:
Almost the Truth™ (http://www.almostthetruth.com) - This was my first online presence...not counting MySpace, which certainly doesn't count...and originated from an idea Sam Helgerson and I had about a humor-laced Bible study radio show (because podcasts had not been invented yet).
Almost the Truth Blog (https://almostthetruth.blogspot.com): If laughter is the best medicine, ALMOST THE TRUTH™ exists to heal the world. New posts every Friday.
Almost the Truth™ Publishing on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/AlmostTheTruth): In addition to the Friday postings of the blog, this page is the host of #TheMorningGames - 8:30 Central, almost every weekday morning, you will find the following line up of diversions:
Monday - #MondayMirth - A video clip or illustration that should start your week with a smile
Tuesday - #TuesdayTrivia - Be the first to give the correct, non-Googled answer and win the day's VirtualPrize (no actual prizes are harmed in the playing of #TheMorningGames)
Wednesday - #WednesdayWhatIsIt - A cropped image is posted and the VirtualPrize goes to the first person who correctly identifies it. (It could be a product logo, a scene from film or television, or an almost-common object)
Thursday - #TBT - Our Throwback Thursday will feature blog posts from the early days when hardly anybody knew about us.
Friday - #Earworm Friday - Start the weekend with a song that just might cycle through your head until Monday.
Almost the Truth™ Publishing Books (https://www.lulu.com/spotlight/deweyroth): Self-published collections of the blog's posts and Almost the Truth About Youth Ministry: Salesmen, Secretaries, and Smart Alecks which is a book full of twisted tales and suspect opinions based on my 14+ years as a youth minister.
Almost the Truth™ YouTube Playlist (https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLruHdMzfLT7wYAaJCFmlwaF64MAyg8nmt): From time to time, I make a video of me reading one of the blog posts...usually because it involves some singing.
Truth Is... (https://www.facebook.com/DeweyTruth): While Almost the Truth is all about laughs, Truth Is... is all about looking a little deeper.
Truth Is... Blog (https://deweytruth.blogspot.com): It's been said that no one has cornered the market on truth. That's probably accurate, but it doesn't rule out the possibility of this being a little corner of truth, tucked away in the huge City of Life, where, according to Paul Simon, the words of the prophets are written on the subway walls and tenement halls. New posts every Thursday.
Truth Is... Podcast: After 10 years of blogging, I decided to create a podcast that kind of functions as a Throwback Thursday because the podcast consists of me reading the Truth Is... blog, starting with the very first ones from 2012. But for people who listen to podcasts and don't read blogs, this is all brand new stuff! Good thing Truth is timeless.
New podcasts are dropped every Tuesday on SEVEN streaming platforms PLUS a video version posted on Dewey Roth's YouTube channel!
Anchor: https://anchor.fm/dewey-roth
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1JgQzFmNgGX25ofwgjYJoA
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/truth-is…/id1586997516
Breaker: https://www.breaker.audio/truth-is-dot-dot-dot-1
Google Podcasts: https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy82NTNiMzlhOC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw==
Pocket Casts: https://pca.st/eyc6uwz0
Radio Public: https://radiopublic.com/truth-is-GqvmQr
and
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQBwF3gcF1itdroQ208MVPA
Dewey's Jukebox (https://www.facebook.com/DeweysJukebox): This podcast is a #VirtualWurlitzer filled with personal favorites and secret gems. Six decades of music are swimming around in my head, and now it can swim around in YOUR head, too. But please, mister, please...don't play B-17.
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1EtUT0bmkUmj8S18jmomnv?si=f1b0308c56b94e26
Anchor: https://anchor.fm/dewey-roth0
Twitter (@deweyroth): Where links to all new blog and podcast posts can be found, along with random bits of serious silliness and silly seriousness. If you have a Twitter account, I would appreciate being followed by you. Makes me look good to possible book publishers and employers!
Instagram (@deweyroth): Where I don't do a whole heckuva lot, but sometimes #MondayMirth and #TuesdayTrivia show up here as well as on Facebook.
In a career spanning more than thirty years, David Letterman redefined the modern talk show with an ironic comic style that transcended traditional television....Moving from letterman's early days in Indiana to his retirement, Zinoman has explored behind the scenes of Letterman's television career to shed light on the origins of his revolutionary comedy, its overlooked influences, and how his work intersects with and reveals his famously eccentric personality....With this enlightening biography, Zinoman offers a perceptive study of the man and the artist whose caustic voice was crucial to an entire generation of comedians and viewers - and whose singular style ushered in new tropes that have become cliches in contemporary comedy.
This is another one of those books that I found while browsing the biography section of the library. Zinoman's focus on comedic innovation and the analysis of Letterman's personality almost overwhelms the biographic storyline, but he keeps it all moving fast enough to qualify as a revealing set of personal anecdotes that had me interested throughout.
First Line: In the summer of 1968, David Letterman's girlfriend gave him an ultimatum: Get married or break up.
Page 56, Sentence 5: When we got on the air and I started reading our mail, I quickly realized it was mainly insane people.
Last Line: Let me mention...kindness.
In 1932, Elisabeth Congdon, an unmarried heiress to a mining fortune, adopts a three-month-old baby girl. The child, Marjorie, grows up in the Glensheen Mansion in Duluth, Minnesota, given everything she could possibly need or want. Forty-five years later, Elisabeth is found smothered in her bed. Her night nurse has been bludgeoned to death with a candlestick. Evidence points to Elisabeth's son-in-law, Roger Caldwell, and her adopted daughter Marjorie. This is the inside story of Marjorie Congdon and the stream of mysterious arsons and murders that have followed in her wake.
I bought this book (from the used book corner of a local-crafts store in Grand Marais, MN) because I once sung about Marjorie Congdon LeRoy Caldwell Hagen in the Dakota Chautauqua at the Dakota County (MN) Fair. It was a deceptively bouncy song about such a dark, twisted woman:
It took a little effort to get into the book because I felt assaulted with lots of names and relationships that I couldn't keep straight, but once Hendry started documenting Marjorie's parade of financial misdealings, arsons, and murders, it got pretty interesting.
The book, published in 1999, ends with Congdon sitting in prison for arson (having somehow gotten away with the murder of her third husband), awaiting parole. Wikipedia updates the story: "Marjorie was released from Arizona State Prison on January 5, 2004. She was arrested again, on March 23, 2007, in Tucson, Arizona, at her residence at an assisted living facility on charges of computer fraud and several other counts. In November 2008, Marjorie Congdon LeRoy Caldwell Hagen pleaded guilty to fraud after illegally taking funds from the bank account of Roger Sammis after his death. Mr. Sammis had been under her care before his death, and some suspect Ms. Congdon of foul play."
What a woman!
First Line: It was a warm fall afternoon, October 30, 1992.
Page 56, Line 5: At this, Marjorie pulled him out of the public school and enrolled him in Benilde, a Catholic school.
Last Line: It was one of many prices, he said, for the bad choices he'd made in life.
